Jamie Oliver takes aim at 'fattest nation in the world'

[T_i_B]

Now Jamie Oliver may be an irritating TV chef but he is still very good at politics and it was his campaign that got the British government to stop selling junk food as school dinners and start providing healthy school dinners instead.

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/americas/article1984456.ece

Jamie Oliver, the outspoken celebrity chef and scourge of every school cook in Britain, has taken his healthy-eating message to the United States. And true to form, he is not mincing his words when it comes to American children and their particular battle with obesity.

"A fat person in England isn't the same as a fat person in America," Oliver gamely asserted yesterday, taking time off from a packed schedule in New York promoting his two latest ventures - a book and a television series about cooking in Italy. Apparently unconcerned with the sensibilities of his American hosts, Oliver ploughed forth suggesting that the US should follow the example of Britain, which, on his urging, has recently banned Turkey Twizzlers and other fatty delights from school cafeterias, replacing them with healthier options.

"England is the most unhealthy country in Europe and America is the most unhealthy country in the world," Oliver told a Reuters reporter. He nonetheless acknowledged that he did not expect to repeat his British campaign for healthier school food in America, noting that as an "English boy in America, they might not appreciate my honesty".

Not that Oliver is necessary wrong in his observations. The number of overweight Americans has tripled since 1980, according to new figures from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, and the obesity rate among children and young people is expected to hit 20 per cent by the end of this decade.

[Name removed]

1. Deleted message

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[geek tragedy]

2. Turkey Twizzlers? Sounds disgusting. eom

[mondo joe]

4. 34% turkey!

Contents:

Turkey (34%),
Water,
Pork fat,
Rusk,
Coating (sugar, rusk, tomato powder, wheat starch, dextrose, salt, wheat flour, potassium chloride, hydrogenated vegetable oil, citric acid, spices, onion powder, malt extract, smoke flavourings, garlic powder, colour , mustard flour, permitted sweetener , herb, spice extracts, herb extracts),
Vegetable oil,
Turkey skin,
Salt,
Wheat flour,
Dextrose,
Stabiliser (E450),
Mustard,
Yeast extract,
Antioxidants (E304, E307, E330, E300),
Herb extract,
Spice extract,
Colour (E162).

http://media.guardian.co.uk/site/story/0,14173,1444288,00.html

[Benhurst]

3. We're Number One!!!

After sinking to the low fifties in our health care and freedom of the press rankings, it's comforting to know that we are still NUMBER ONE in something.

We're big, we're fat, and we're NUMBER ONE!

[JackintheGreen]

5. and number 2, an number 3, and number 4....

[bleedingheart]

11. snort!...

[NorthernSpy]

6. The Ugly Brit

If we're "the unhealthiest country in the world", then how does he explain our longevity? And if England is "the unhealthiest country in Europe", how does he explain the higher mortality rate in Hungary, for instance?

:eyes:

I'm really tired of this endless parade of foreigners who come here to bitch at us. When I'm in someone else's country, you won't get a contrary word out of me.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. ...

"If we're "the unhealthiest country in the world", then how does he explain our longevity?"

We're the richest.

[smirkymonkey]

25. If he's just talking about BMI, he's talking out of his arse...

He should read up on things:

Average European 'is overweight'

"The Maltese and the Greeks are the heavyweights of Europe, figures from the European Commission reveal.

The Italians and French the most trim, while the average Briton - like the average European - is slightly over the ideal weight...(more)"

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6148456.stm

The UK is ranked #10 among Europeans - Of course I have no idea how this compares to Americans, but even in this country there are a lot of regional differences.

Europe's Heavyweights
Body Mass Index figures
Malta - 26.6
Greece - 25.9
Finland - 25.8
Luxembourg - 25.7
Hungary - 25.6
Cyprus - 25.6
Lithuania - 25.5
Slovenia - 25.5
Denmark - 25.5
UK - 25.4

[mondo joe]

9. I welcome his involvement. We have major health problems,

particularly with regard to childhood obesity.

[NorthernSpy]

10. Our problems, whatever they might be, are none of his business...

And besides, our major health problem is the prohibitive cost of -- and lack of access to -- healthcare. But the resources and energy that could be directed toward solving that problem always seem to end up in the hands of the food police instead. Figures.

:eyes:

I've argued for some time that progressives really need to drop this whole "Doormat America" attitude that cries grateful tears whenever foreigners stick their noses in to insult us to our faces. We never condone that sort of thing when the "Ugly American" types do it to others, and we shouldn't accept it when others try the same thing on us.


This twit isn't trying to "help" Americans. He's trying to peddle his wares in the biggest English-speaking market in the world. He knows that our elites will eagerly buy and promote what he's selling, because they have the same scorn and contempt for those "fat" working class Americans that he does. It's pretty obvious, really.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

12. Is he wrong?

Or is this just more "go back to France" ugly Americanism?

[NorthernSpy]

15. yeah, he's wrong

America isn't the "fattest nation in the world". I believe that title actually goes to one of island nations in the South Pacific.

Second, he's wrong if he thinks that there's some necessary correlation between fatness and ill health. It's not that simple, as Flegal et al demonstrated from the NHANES data.

Third, people who come to our country to insult us really might do us a favor by going back where they came from. As I said, I reject the "Doormat America" attitude, and I make no apologies for that.

Just FYI, an "ugly American" is a boorish, meddling fuck who goes to other people's countries and alienates the folks who live there. My limited tolerance for the boorish, meddling fucks from other lands who fly in to inflict themselves upon us does not make me an "ugly American.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

16. So he's wrong on technicalities...

Frankly, if some tiny nation in the South Pacific is slightly larger per capita, it's irrelevant.

The United States is way too fat. Our diet stinks. And we're way to unhealthy because of it.

"Second, he's wrong if he thinks that there's some necessary correlation between fatness and ill health."

Well then, as it turns out we're both fat and unhealthy, so he's right there.

"Third, people who come to our country to insult us really might do us a favor by going back where they came from."

Given that he's right, it's too bad that more Americans weren't saying it first.

"Just FYI, an "ugly American" is a boorish, meddling fuck who goes to other people's countries and alienates the folks who live there."

Sure, those are the ugly American tourists. Unfortunately, they're still ugly when they come home.

[Turbineguy]

20. Generation XL

[mondo joe]

18. "come to our country and insult us"? I missed the insult.

[Quantess]

14. It's a little patronizing, yes.

But when you're at the top of the food chain, others want to knock you down. The U.S. has been throwing its weight around in other ways, and so Americans are seen as fair game.

Not that I don't think Americans need to lose weight, because they do! It's depressing to see so many overweight, obese, and morbidly obese, children.

[mondo joe]

17. I guess I don't just feel that private about perfectly public things.

I think hecares about what people eat. And if he's accurate, I don't mind him saying so.

[DavidDvorkin]

13. You mean this life expectancy?

https://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/rankorder/2102rank.html

[rsmith6621]

8. m

m

[JVS]

19. I thought I read something about Canada edging us out slightly for #1

[LordLovesAWorkingMan]

21. Hi, I can cook, and I'm on TV! That qualifies me to...um...

...opine on things I don't really know about. Um, yeah...


:eyes:

[muriel_volestrangler]

22. No, there's more to it than that - he did get the British government to change

what was cooked in British schools:

The Feed Me Better campaign attracted 271,677 signatures of support for Oliver's petition to improve the state of school meals, which was duly handed over to Downing Street.

The television show, which attracted millions of viewers, captured the imagination of parents and politicians alike and the campaign soon began to gather momentum.

First of all, MPs urged ministers to ban processed foods from school dinners, saying they were appalled that an average school meal cost less than 45p to make - a quarter of the cost of prison dinners.
...
On 30 March 2005, the government announced £280m to tackle the school meals programme in England with Oliver saying the boost would "make a difference to every kid in this country".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5313882.stm

[T_i_B]

26. Like I said, he's quite a political guy really

He's been involved in the campaign to prevent Stanstead airport from expanding and I remember seeing him on the big 2003 anti-war demo in London!

Of course his biggest success has been persuading the British government to stop selling junk food as school dinners. It's just a shame that his cookery programmes are so irritating, not to mention the fact that he's all over Sainsbury's marketing as well these days.

[mondo joe]

24. What makes you think he doesn't know?

Seriously.

[noshenanigans]

23. I don't get the hubris..

He did an AMAZING thing in the UK. Granted because I live in the US I only got the see his specials when they were edited, but the things he did with the kids there was simply what they need. I'm flabbergasted he got as far as he did there. The kids wouldn't try anything he gave them at first just because it wasn't one of the three varieties of fried "meat" they're used to eating. He confronted them with the food, he had them cook, he taught them about it, they tried it, and most of the time they ended up really enjoying it.

So why on Earth is that a bad thing here? While you can argue with the causes, you can't argue with the fact there's an unprecedented amount of obese kids. They do eat one (and in many cases, two) meals at school, so I think it is perfectly reasonable to expect some sort of oversight. And most of the schools here have been bought out by hyper-industrialized mass-produced comestibles, and the kids' nutrition is, to put it gently, not in their best interest.